transit to shore in dingies, life jackets we have previously tested to support their bodies upright and heads out of the water. Our boat has bow to stern lifeline netting, to keeps dogs in- board. And no pup is allowed on deck without an observing ‘parent’ also being topside. During weather, they are below, in the main stateroom, on a hull to hull double bed, safely con- tained. As to health and vaccines, we have pet passports, with photos, mi- crochips and all health records read- ily available. Prior to leaving theUSA, each dog has blood titers run and ap- propriate vaccinations for the trop- ics to include lymes and lep to yearly. This year we added dog flu to the mix, carefully giving a the immunizations in separated series. With current ra- bies certificate, FAVN Titer report, distemper/parvo, lymes, lep to and such, we then submit the veterinar- ian completed, USDA US Interstate and International AFHIS form 7001 is sent to be certified by the official USDA Veterinary Medical Officer. In our case, this is from Virginia to New York, with return FEDEX over- night forms. With this paperwork in hand, we can enter all Caribbean countries. It sounds like a lot of work, but we know our pets are protected as best we can make them. As the climate seems to becoming warmer in the south, diseases are certainly more active! During our visits to the islands, some other dog types stood out. We found several interesting types of dogs which seem to be in some sort of breeding programs; or at least you are told only “the family behind the grocery store” raised the real dogs. The two examples that stood out, the Bequia Poodle—in Bequia and the PomPek from Trinidad. The Bequia Poodle is very similar to a small Tibe- tian Spaniel, with shorter black mask muzzle, tan coat, long body, short legs and curved plumy tail over the back. The PomPek was called the ‘national dog’ of Trinidad and they resembled Havanese in looks. PomPek puppies were all colors of the rainbow and their unique temperaments were
very similar to our dogs’. Like the Havanese, where the origin of these dogs came from, Portuguese sailors or a mixture of indigenous canines crossed with ships dogs, they are all interesting to observe. What we have found in the Caribbean is somewhat sobering as to pet care in some of the islands less traveled to. While in the BVIS and US terri- tories of Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands and the French islands of Gualaoupe and Martinque, the level of immuni- zations and pet health care is similar to that found in the USA, outside of these areas, local animals are poor- ly immunized and almost all lack heartworm protection. The captain of one our Cuba Rally boats, Salty Pause, a veterinarian, frequently mentioned seeing dogs infected with heartworm and it explained why old dogs were seldom seen outside of our boat community. While veterinarians are available for ‘tourists or ExPat’ pets, preventative treatment for other pets is ignored. Because of this, and due to the feral dogs found on most beaches, our dogs spent more time on board that being ‘tourists.’ However, as a cruiser, that is also all of our experiences; we are on anchor, we live on board a vessel like a small city and unless there is a provisioning need, event or tour we want to take, we are onboard. Dogs were walked on leads, with several of us together, both for our protection and for the dogs sake as well. Since in most of the out of the way locations we could travel to, people were careful about dogs (scared of them in some cases) we had no problems with theft or unpleasant events. Our dogs have never been sick or injured—we not only take care on leaving on trips, but on return do full checkupswith labs to insure we have healthy animals. Our dogs are beloved family members and good sailors, ready to head south the next time Growltiger raises her sails on passage.
vaccinations, we were golden in other countries. Like people, pets have to be ‘entered’ or imported into and then ‘exited’ or exported out of each country. The Customs Offices where we in processed our vessel and crew, each time in each country, also was the staging area for pet clearances, we had a single location for govern- ment processing. While getting the import/export country veterinarians to complete paperwork involved sev- eral steps, it was still possible to com- plete in a day: boat, crew and pets. In the BVIs, veterinarian clearance and import paperwork cost $10.00US per dog, people/crew/boat cost a lot more. The dogs love their boat and happily sit on the deck house observing pass- ing vessels and dingys. Ace, our Cana- dian import and one-half Cuban Ha- vanese male, has learned, to his view, the appropriate speed when dingys pass anchored vessels. He patiently waits, along with his two supporting side kicks for a outboard going faster than five mph—it’s a sound and wave thing we believe. Once ‘locked on’ to the offending vessel, Ace waits at the stern or bow of Growltiger, ‘alerting’ once to warn off the speed violator. If that does not work, and it usually doesn’t, he will run full out the 51 foot length of our boat, howling his bell tones. The other dogs support his racket with their own song of the sea— it looks like grey rugs are covering the topsides. They are immediately quiet as soon as the vessel passes beyond the boat. And it does provide excellent exercise on board! After a few hours of the dogs laying down their rules, most dingys make a long way around our anchorage. And since the rules of the road do suggest slow speeds around anchored vessels, the dogs are following good judgement. Other than alerting when someone comes near to board the vessel or laying down speed rules, these are quiet dogs, happy to sit and watch the changing harbors and scenery of the islands. To keep our little group safe, we fol- low common sense rules applied to other active little ones, toddlers. Our dogs wear life jackets while in
50 • T op N otch T oys , O ctober 2019
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